The Brian Lehrer Show

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Joe Rogan's podcast recently that "masculine energy" is good, and that culture should celebrate aggression. Listeners of all genders call in to share what masculinity means to them today, and whether they identify with Zuckerberg's comments. 

Daniel Griffin, MD, PhD, chief of infectious disease for Island Infectious Diseases, the largest physician-owned Infectious Disease Specialist Group on Long Island, an infectious disease specialist and clinical instructor of medicine at Columbia University and president of Parasites Without Borders and co-host of the podcast "This Week in Virology", offers commentary and analysis of the Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Trump's nominee to lead the United States Department of Health and Human Services.  

Clare Malone, staff writer at The New Yorker covering politics, previews the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s first of two confirmation hearings as President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Then, Ian Ward, reporter at POLITICO, where he covers the conservative movement and the American right for POLITICO Magazine, discusses the confirmation hearing of Brooke Rollins, President Donald Trump’s agriculture secretary nominee and her priorities for USDA.

In this engaging discussion, journalist and author Peter Beinart delves into his upcoming book on calling for a reckoning regarding Israel. He addresses the humanitarian impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, offering emotional reflections and critiques of political rhetoric. Beinart explores complexities surrounding Jewish identity and the need for equality and coexistence. He also emphasizes the importance of recognizing Palestinian humanity while advocating for reconciliation through a dual-state solution. A thought-provoking journey into empathy and understanding ensues.

Listeners tell us how their relationships with the social media platforms have changed in this second Trump era.

The nation’s largest health care union, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers, is in the midst of a succession battle to unseat its long term president. Maya Kaufman, health care reporter for POLITICO New York in New York City, explains what's the driver behind the battle and what New Yorkers stand to gain, and lose, depending on the outcome.

Jill Colvin, national political reporter for The Associated Press, talks about the latest national political news, including  the ICE raids in Chicago and Dallas, the freeze on foreign aid and on immigration support funding.

Joe Biden called himself "the most pro-labor President in American history," and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo was key to his enforcement efforts. As an administration with a much different posture on labor shapes up, Dan Kaufman, contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and author of The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics (W. W. Norton & Company, 2018),  looks back through a century of the NLRB and NLRA.=>"What Labor Could Lose" (The New York Review of Books, 1/19/25)

Stephen Nessen, transportation reporter for the WNYC Newsroom, and Clayton Guse, WNYC/Gothamist editor on the NYC Accountability desk, talk about a new Gothamist series "State of Collapse" and the latest transportation news. 

Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them.Trump's Anti-DEI Push (First) | The State of Broadcast Journalism (Starts at 48:00 ) | Lessons Learned on Staying Warm (Starts at 1:15:00)If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.